CHINA
Ten dead in mine blast
At least 10 people were killed and six are missing after an accident at a coal mine in Henan Province, state media said yesterday. The accident, a likely coal and gas explosion described as an “outburst,” happened at about 2:55pm on Friday in Pingdingshan, China Central Television said. Search-and-rescue efforts were continuing, it added. Xinhua news agency said that 425 people were working underground when the blast occurred. Those in charge of the mine have been taken into custody by authorities, it said.
AUSTRALIA
Taiwanese wins Hobart
Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching (詹皓晴) and Giuliana Olmos of Mexico yesterday dominated China’s Guo Hanyu (郭涵煜) and Jiang Xinyu (蔣欣玗) in straight sets to win the women’s doubles final at the Hobart International tennis tournament. Second seeds and Olmos beat the Chinese duo 6-3, 6-3, recovering after crashing out of the round of 16 at the Brisbane International earlier this month. Chan and her sister, Latisha Chan (詹詠然), bagged a gold medal for Taiwan in doubles at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, in October last year.
NEW ZEALAND
Ardern marries
After almost five years of engagement and a postponement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, former prime minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday married longtime partner Clarke Gayford in a private ceremony. Details of the event were closely held by the pair, but the ceremony is reported to have been staged at a luxury vineyard in the scenic Hawke’s Bay region, 325km from the capital, Wellington. Earlier, police met with a small group of protesters who had plastered a wall with dozens of anti-vaccination posters outside the venue. One protester was also seen holding a sign that read: “Lest we forget jab mandates,” on the outskirts of the property.
TURKEY
Military strikes hit Iraq
The military yesterday carried out airstrikes targeting Kurdish militants in neighboring Iraq and Syria, the Ministry of National Defense said. The strikes came a day after an attack on a Turkish military base in Iraq killed nine Turkish soldiers. The government often launches strikes against targets in Syria and Iraq that it believes to be affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, a banned separatist group that has waged insurgency since the 1980s. The defense ministry said fighter jets destroyed caves, bunkers, shelters and oil facilities “to eliminate terrorist attacks against our people and security forces ... and to ensure our border security.” The statement added “many” militants were “neutralized” in the strikes.
ECUADOR
Five more inmates escape
At least five inmates on Friday evening escaped from the vast Guayaquil prison complex, with two of them caught shortly afterward during a vast search operation, police sources said. Shortly after their escape, two helicopters, as well as drones, flew over the surroundings of the huge prison, on the northern outskirts of the city. Authorities and the prison administration have not made an official statement so far. Since Sunday last week, the country has been plunged into an unprecedented security crisis sparked by the escape from Guayaquil prison of one of the country’s most powerful narco bosses, Jose Adolfo Macias, known by the alias “Fito.” His escape was followed by prison riots, hostage-taking and attacks on the police.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
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